To Stop a Rumble
by Megariffic
Summary: A Curtis cousin shows up for three months but can the boys let her go? Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own or have anything to do with The Outsiders.

She looked down at the address written on her palm then at the rusted, hanging-askew mailbox. Then she walked with obvious trepidation to the front door and knocked. She quickly put her hand at her side, still in a fist. When shouts came from the inside, she seemed to panic for a second and took a step back. Then she got a hold of herself and walked back up to the door. It opened and a very handsome, very built young man three inches taller than herself opened the door. His arms were like tennis balls.

"Can I help you miss?" he asked.

"Um…yes…well, I was wondering…you're Darrel Curtis right?"

"I am…who's asking?" His eyes narrowed and she nearly took another step back, but the end of the concrete step was already poking through her thin-soled sneakers.

"I'm Audrey Marsh. I'm…well I'm your cousin and I really need a place to stay."

He looked at her more closely. "Audrey? _Really? _Wow, you've certainly grown up." She smiled at him broadly. "Come in, come in. How long are you gonna be in town? Where're Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Dave?"

She hung her head and felt the familiar taste of tears at the back of her throat. "Last week they were hit by a drunk driver," she said in a hurried monotone. If she didn't say it fast and if she looked into her cousin Darrel's eyes she would start crying and that was the last thing she wanted to do."

She felt him pull her into his arms and that really was too much. She cried into his shoulder for a little while, and then he led her inside. The house was a little messy, but Audrey didn't mind. She sat on the couch which reeked of cigarette smoke. Oh…she could certainly use a smoke right now. Her mom and dad didn't like that they smoked, but now they were gone…forever. She'd never get yelled at about how unhealthy it was, and how just because her friends were doing it didn't mean she should do it too.

He had left her alone in the living room, but now he came back with a handkerchief. She wiped her face and hoped she'd gotten most of the mascara. His kind eyes nearly brought back the tears, but she fought them off.

"I'm really sorry to hear that Audrey."

She shook her head. "It's all right. I mean, it's not, but I'm going to be okay. Grandma said she can take me in, but not for another three months. She's in the hospital for smoking again. Could I please, _please_ stay here with you guys until then? I can pay some rent, not much, but I do have a little money."

"You can stay here without paying rent. I don't want your money. You're family, right?"

She smiled weakly. "Thanks Darrel."

"Ah, no one calls me that. It's Darry."

This time her smile was bigger. "I really appreciate it." She looked around. "Where's Sodapop and Ponyboy?"

"Soda's still at work and Ponyboy is at school. Will you be going here until Grandma finds a place?"

"Yeah…I guess so. I was so worried about finding a place to stay in the meantime that I hadn't even thought about that."

"Well, I'm glad you came here. Are you tired? Hungry? We've got some leftovers from dinner in the freezer."

"I'm all right, thanks."

An awkward pause hung over them, then Darry said, "I've gotta take a shower. I'm goin to work in about ten minutes. Will you be okay here by yourself?"

"Yeah, I will."

She set her bag by the couch and got up to look around. There were pictures of Darry, Sodapop, Ponyboy and Auntie and Uncle John. She still couldn't get over their death, and now her parents had gone too in the same way. She walked into the kitchen and saw a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and crumbs covered the table like a cloth. A spill was on the floor that had probably been there since the night before. She left and walked into what she figured was Darry's room. The bed was made, there wasn't much else. A lamp on the nightstand, a book on the floor, and some Venetian blinds on the window with places broken and snapped. She left and went into Soda and Ponyboy's room. There were books everywhere. On the nightstand, on the floor, on a bookshelf. There were pictures of horses taped to the wall, and a picture of Sodapop, Ponyboy, and Darry was framed and on the nightstand. She left and went back into the living room. It really wasn't a very big place and Audrey was grateful all over again that Darry would sacrifice so much space to her for three long months.

He left for work, but before he did he gave her a quick hug. "I'll see you when I get home, but that'll be pretty late so don't feel like you have to wait up. Soda should be home in fifteen minutes or so for lunch break. I'll call him when I get to work and let him know you're here. I'll see you later, all right?"

"Right." Then he was gone.

Because she had nothing to do for the fifteen minutes that Darry would be gone, she decided to clean up a little. It gave her something to concentrate on other than the ache in her chest that hadn't gone away at all. Grandma had promised it would. Or at least, that it would ease a little. The constant urge to cry was always upon her.

Finally, right after the last dish had been put away, Sodapop came through the door. He called out, "Hey Audrey! You in here?"

She stepped out and he whooped. "Gee Audrey! You've grown up so much I hardly recognize you! Come here!" She came over and he swooped her up and spun her. "It's good to see you again!"

"You too Sodapop! I sure did miss you!"

He grinned. "I heard about your parents. I'm awful sorry."

"Don't be, but it is sweet of you."

"Wait till Ponyboy sees ya! I wonder if he'll even remember you."

That was just like Sodapop, to change the subject as fast as possible from anything sad. He ran into the kitchen and whooped again. "I'm glad you came to stay instead of cousin Barry. You remember that kid?" Audrey giggled.

"How could I forget?"

Sodapop came back in. "I'm only here for lunch, but I can stay if you need me to. Steve'll understand."

"No it's all right, it really is. I brought a book and stuff I can take care of myself."

"Well, Ponyboy will come back in about an hour. So you sure you'll be all right?"

"I'm positive."


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Can I just say right now, that I love any reviews in any shape or form if they are useful. I love encouragement and compliments of course – who doesn't? - but I don't tolerate the people who criticize without giving any advice. This is stupid and useless. If something is wrong with my writing come right out and say it instead of just calling me a stupid person for thinking I can write. Thank you very much, but I know I can write and I can write well and if you have a problem, be strong enough to state it. Simply insulting people aimlessly is weak and unpardonable. But thank you to the two people who had nice things to say that always makes me feel better.

Audrey sat on the sofa, reading a book. Soda had just left and she was eagerly waiting for Ponyboy to get home from school. She didn't share the easy relationship with Pony that she shared with Sodapop, but they'd always been close. They fought more than any other pair she knew, but their friendship far overpowered their differences. She had really missed him and all of her cousin's friends while she'd been away. They always made her feel special.

Finally, he came home, with Keith Mathews right behind him, grinning that silly grin, his eyes dancing with mischief as always.

Pony and Audrey hugged on seeing each other and exclaimed over how much the other had grown up. Then Keith and she shook hands, Audrey feeling more than a little awkward. She had always had quite a crush on him, but had never been able to vocalize it. Instead, she had hid her feelings far away and hoped that he would take her quietness for pure and simple shyness rather than rudeness. She was determined this time though that her feelings wouldn't show and she'd still be able to talk to him.

Besides, after what had happened to her at her own school, she hardly felt very romantic toward anybody. She had been hurt pretty badly, and she wasn't eager to repeat those feelings. Not that she thought she could get anywhere with a guy like Keith Mathews anyway, whom to Audrey had always been the embodiment of tuff.

About an hour later, Dallas Winston and Johnny Cade showed up. Whenever Audrey saw Johnny she always thought that the kid just needed a big bear hug. He had a new scar from the last time she'd seen him and it was obvious he'd taken quite a beating. It was too bad, because he was a good-looking kid, but he looked too high-strung.

Dallas had always scared her though. He had a certain charm, but she'd seen him get angry and that had forever been branded into her mind. Unfortunately, it was just how she saw him now.

Steve, Soda, and Darrel finally all came home as well and all of them hung out until it got too late. The guys all left, and Audrey made a bed on the couch, thinking about her cousins and their gang.

She loved how she always felt safe and protected among them. They weren't creepy, and though she knew they'd all been in trouble at one time or another, they were perfect gentlemen to her. They lifted her spirits in a way that no one else had been able to since her parents had died. And since Patrick.

The next day, Ponyboy and Audrey went out to see a movie after he came back from school. It had been okay, but Audrey knew Ponyboy had liked it a lot better than she had. They caught up on all they'd missed in the last two years. She just couldn't get over how much he'd grown up since two summers ago, and he said the same to her.

A car, a blue one, trailed along behind them for a whole block. She could actually hear the guys in it sniggering. Ponyboy was well built for his age, but she still felt scared. She would have felt better if more of the gang had been there with them. The car finally came for a stop and she felt Ponyboy stop beside her, his shoulders slouched and his hands deep in his pockets.

She grabbed his arm and said, "Come _on_, Ponyboy, just keep walking."

The guys from the car ended up circling around them, laughing quietly, and looking altogether much too dangerous. They were dressed very nicely, and she knew they were what her cousins called Socs. Her hands were shaking and she tried to hide it by clasping them together tightly. This only showed her white-knuckled fear.

"Hey there greasers."

"Well now greaser, looks like you've picked up a pretty decent girl."

"Yeah, how much did you have to pay her to been seen next to her?"

Audrey got angry enough to look up and around at all the boys. There were quite a few of them against just the two of them. She was quivering with outrage and terror. She had never been faced with this kind of situation.

"Can't you please just leave us alone?" she begged.

One of the guys leapt at her and grabbed her into his arms. "Leave you alone? We were just thinking of getting to know you better! You wouldn't want to be rude would you?"

She struggled against him, trying to beat her fists against his chest, but her efforts were futile. They all laughed and the guy actually tried to bring her face closer to his.

This made Ponyboy act. He charged at the guy and ripped Audrey from his arms. She staggered on the sidewalk, but pulled herself upright.

Now the guy was wrestling Ponyboy to the ground as Pony yelled, "Run Audrey! Don't worry about me, just get outta here!"

She tried, but their circle had gotten even tighter. Audrey started yelling for help as loudly as she could, feeling real terror start to clamp around her heart now. It beat painfully fast in her chest. Another guy made to grab for her, but she fell back into another boy's arms. He laughed and pinned her arms behind her. "Look greaser, we'll let her go if you agree to a haircut." She pulled harder, but only managed to send a shooting pain up her right arm. She whimpered and hated herself.

The guy that had wrestled Pony to the ground whipped out a switchknife and brought it to Pony's throat. "Right below the chin, greaser. That's where we'll start the haircut."

"Help! Somebody help _please_!"

"Shut her up, Warner!"

Instead of shutting her up, she felt him let go of her. She fell to the sidewalk, banging her knees on the edge, adding to the pain in her right arm. She got to her feet and watched as the gang of Socs jumped in the car and drove off. She looked around to see what had frightened them, and saw all of the gang running after them, throwing rocks and glass bottles from the side of the street.

She immediately ran over to Ponyboy, who had a big slice on his temple and the beginnings of a bruise on his cheek. Audrey whipped out a handkerchief from her purse and pressed it against the cut. Then she helped him to his feet and he took the handkerchief himself. She could feel the burning of oncoming tears behind her eyes. She took a deep shaky breath and closed her eyes. The feeling had been chased away, but she didn't know what she'd do if the gang came and tried to make her feel better. She certainly didn't want to start bawling in front of them.

"Pony! Audrey!" It was Darrel. "Are you all right?" Pony and she nodded silently. "Are you sure? You're bleeding, did they have switchknives?"

"Smart question there, Darry."

"Shut your trap, Two-Bit." He turned back to Ponyboy. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah Darry, I'm fine, quit fussing over me."

Darrel immediately turned to Audrey. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head numbly. Now that they were all around her she didn't feel remotely like crying. In fact, she hardly felt anything at all. She felt rather faint, and sat down on the concrete hard. The others immediately helped her up with worry in their stricken faces.

"Gee, you sure you're all right there, Audrey?"

"Yeah." She nodded again. "Yeah, I'm just…I was scared."

"C'mon, let's get you home and you can tell us about it."

Soda put his arm around her and they all walked as a group to the house. Ponyboy explained what had happened as Audrey sat on the couch, white as a sheet and staring at her shoes. When Pony came to the point where one of the boys had grabbed Audrey, Darrel whipped around and started yelling. "Are you sure they didn't hurt you Audrey? I'd love to get my hands on them. Who does that kind of thing to a lady?"

Under other circumstances, Audrey probably would have blushed at being called a lady. Though she wasn't exactly a greasy girl, she was barely middle-class and certainly not a lady.

Once everything had settled down a bit, the gang left. Ponyboy had put a band-aid on his cut at Darrel's insistence, and was currently holding ice to his cheek. Audrey was still sitting on the couch, not saying much. She couldn't wait for her cousins to go to their rooms so she could make her bed and go to sleep.

She was thankful that the gang had left early. She had had the distinct feeling that Dallas Winston had been watching her the whole time he'd been there, and he hardly wanted him judging her, thinking she was weak probably. Thinking it was just like a girl to react the way she had to the attack. Well, Audrey was just thankful she hadn't cried in front of them, because that would just make Dallas hate her even more.

When Audrey fell asleep that night, she closed her eyes only to see the boys circling around her and Ponyboy. When she fell asleep she was all alone in the middle of that circle and she could tell something much more was going to happen than what really had. She woke up before anything could, scaring herself out of the dream.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: The reason I said that a girl was sucked into a book is because on a different penname I did that with the Outsiders. Anyway, now that I can't remember my password to that account, I didn't want to write a story just like it and get called out or something by it, so now I'm writing an almost completely different story, but with the Outsiders again. Anyway, sorry about the mix-up.

The next day, Dallas invited the gang to go see a movie. Only Johnny and Pony were going, but Keith said he might stop by. Audrey, however, had things to do. She had to fill out all kinds of paperwork so she could get into Pony's school, and then she decided to clean the house. It was pretty messy and Audrey had heard from Darrel and Soda's conversation that a social worker would be stopping by pretty soon.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come, Audrey? Double feature for a quarter."

"Nah, but thanks. I've got paperwork to fill out and stuff."

Pony looked disappointed and Johnny looked scared as always. But Dallas's feelings were harder to gauge. Audrey was quite certain they spelled out relief.

As Dally, Johnny, and Ponyboy walked down to the drive-in movie theater, Ponyboy could hardly contain his shock when Dally asked him a question.

"So what's Audrey like? I was in jail I think, the last time she was around."

"Yeah, you were. She's all right. She's pretty quiet now that her parents have died, but she used to be really loud and funny. I think she just needs time though, and she'll come back. Plus I heard from Darry that something happened to her at her old school. Something to do with someone named Patrick."

"Oh."

Ponyboy was at a complete loss as to why Dallas Winston would be asking about his cousin Audrey.

Dallas however, could hardly fathom why anyone would be at a loss over that. Audrey was a beautiful girl. She was tall, but not quite as tall as he was. She had beautiful auburn hair that she pulled away from her face in a glossy ponytail. Her green eyes were flecked with gold and brown. He hated himself for noticing these things like some kind of sap, but her beauty always struck him. And something in her expression proved what Pony had said about her to be true. She had a lively spirit; she just needed time to grieve.

He shrugged. What he really needed was a night at the movies, distracted from her pretty face. He certainly didn't need to be thinking about some cousin who was only going to be here for a few months and then leave. She was too nice for him anyway. She wouldn't give him a second glance.

Darrel had tried to dissuade Audrey to just rest instead of cleaning up the whole place, but she was not to be dissuaded. She scrubbed and scrubbed almost maniacally in the kitchen. By ten o'clock her paperwork was completely filled out, every dish in the kitchen was sparkling clean and stacked neatly in the cupboards. She then filled a bucket with clean, hot, soapy water and grabbed a mop that looked like it hadn't been used in a while. She shoved the chairs and the table into the living room and set to work. When she came across particularly stubborn spots she got onto the floor, scrubbing at the spot obsessively with a toothbrush until she got it out.

Darrel and Sodapop gave up on her after a while and went to bed. She scrubbed and she scrubbed. She cleaned out the fridge throwing away a startling amount of expired items. Then she washed down the counters and she was about to tackle the bathroom when she realized it was midnight. The time certainly wasn't going to make her stop. She knew she was obsessing so she wouldn't have to think about her parents or the day before, but when she stopped for just a second, she realized Ponyboy still wasn't home.

She remembered the boys saying something about a vacant lot in the neighborhood. Her intuition was incredibly strong and she knew Ponyboy was down there. She also knew she had to get him out of there or there would be real trouble soon. Darrel ambled out into the living room, rubbing his eyes. He had a cowlick that was sticking straight up in the air and looked quite comical. Audrey wanted to laugh.

"Where's Ponyboy?"

"I know. I'll go get him."

"Why's he out so late? And how do you know where he is?"

Pause. "I'll be back in a second."

"No, you can't go out in this neighborhood all by yourself. I won't allow it."

"Well I'm not gonna let you come with me. Unless you promise to behave yourself when you see Ponyboy."

He sighed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just let me go Darrel. I can handle myself."

He looked at her long and hard for a second then waved his hand at her. "Get a jacket, and I'll let you out of the house." She grinned for a second, then ran out the door with her jacket on.

She was completely not surprised when she got to the lot and saw Ponyboy and Johnny asleep there. But Pony was only in a cut-off sweater, he must be freezing.

She woke them both up by nudging their legs with her toe.

"Pony! Johnny! Wake up, c'mon it's midnight!"

Finally they did, sitting up and shivering. "C'mon you guys, let's get you home."

"I'll just stay out here," Johnny said, looking at Ponyboy. Pony shrugged and got up, but Audrey knelt down on the grass beside Johnny. She tapped his shoulder to get his attention and he immediately sat up, looking like he'd just gotten in trouble with the teacher.

"Johnny, come home with us. Please?"

"Did you walk out here all by yourself?" asked Pony.

"Please, Johnny?"

He looked completely uncertain, but he finally got up and followed Pony and Audrey to the house. Darrel was sitting on the couch waiting. When he saw Ponyboy he jumped up and started yelling.

"Why weren't you thinking? Out until midnight? What's that about? And where were you? You look like you just spent five hours in a freezer! If you get a cold –"

Suddenly, Audrey was between the two of them, her hand on Darry's shoulder.

"Darrel. He's okay. That's all that matters, right?"

He took a deep breath, his eyes closed, just as Audrey had the day before.

"Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry Ponyboy, but when I got a look at the time I just got so worried."

"That's all right, Darry. I'm sorry for being out so late."

"Yeah, you better not do that again." But he was grinning. Then he had both Pony and Audrey in a huge hug, squeezing them until their ribcages groaned under the pressure. Then he stalked off back to his bedroom.

Johnny looked down at the couch made out like a bed. "There's not exactly enough room for me here. I'll just go back out to the lot."

Audrey felt fear curl up inside her. "Johnny. You can't do that. Don't ask me to explain, because I can't really, but you just can't go back out there. Besides, I'm completely awake. I'm not even remotely sleepy. You go ahead and go to sleep on the couch."

He looked uncertain still.

"Johnny, go to bed."

Unable to disobey a direct order, Johnny crawled under the covers. Audrey smiled to herself. She gave Pony a hug and he went directly to his room. Then Audrey set to work on the bathroom, which, if cleaned properly, would probably kill an hour or two. She wasn't being polite to Johnny. She was completely wired.


	4. Chapter 4

Two-Bit Mathews walked into the Curtis home early the next morning to pick Ponyboy up for school. He wasn't completely startled to see Johnny asleep on the couch since a lot of the gang, including himself, was known to crash at the Curtis place once in a while. Then he remembered that Audrey was in town and he wondered where she was sleeping. He quietly walked into the kitchen and saw her asleep on her arms at the table. He smiled gently, and went to shake Johnny awake.

Of course, Two-Bit's idea of shaking someone awake was jumping into the air and landing sitting on their side yelling, "Wakey-wakey!" This efficiently awoke the entire household, especially when Johnny added his pained yells to Two-Bit's excited wake-up call.

Eventually, Johnny wrestled Two-Bit off him and Darrel ran out the door to work having slept in too late for breakfast.

"Are you coming to school today?" Pony asked Audrey.

"Yes. Keith, can I get a ride too?"

"Yeah, you'll have to sit on someone's lap though."

"I'll sit in the bed of the truck," said Johnny quickly. Audrey was about to protest, but then she saw that Johnny looked pretty excited about the prospect. She closed her mouth and smiled to herself.

They piled into the truck and set out, the wind whipping at their hair through the open windows. Johnny occasionally whooped happily when Keith would turn a corner so fast the car tipped a little.

"Audrey, why do you insist on calling me Keith? Only my mom calls me that."

"Oh, if you don't like it I can call you Two-Bit. I'm just so used to Keith now."

"Nah, I like it when you call me Keith. If anyone else but you or my mom tried it, I'd probably have to belt 'em, but you've got some kinda charm, kid."

Audrey blushed silently and Keith grinned brashly.

They reached the school leaving record-breaking tire marks where Two-Bit had braked so fast trying to park the truck in time. They got out laughing hysterically Audrey included. She finally looked happy after a long time. Ponyboy noticed the color was back in her face and her eyes were alight with pleasure.

"Woo, I haven't had that much fun in a long time," she declared. Two-Bit picked her up and slung her around so she was in his arms like a bride. Pony looked away, wanting to hurry into the school. He could already feel the tension between the two of them, the kind that was between Sandy and Sodapop. He didn't really want to be around for that.

Two-Bit set Audrey down outside of the office, where she hurried inside to turn in her paperwork. She walked into her first-period class two minutes before the bell rang. The only seat was directly in the middle in the front row. Her happiness from that morning was quickly evaporating with all of her nerves rushing over her like a tidal wave. Her hands were shaking again, so she put them beneath the desk and then stared at the floor until class began.

The classes weren't exactly hard, because Audrey was pretty smart. She noticed she was in class with a lot of Socs and wondered why. Ponyboy told her at lunch that there were the advanced placement classes and they were both in those and then there were regular classes. Most of the greasers in town were in the regular classes, but he had made it into the AP ones.

"It'll be nice to have someone else in the family who understands working hard at school."

"Doesn't Darrel understand that? I would have pictured him riding you pretty hard to do well."

"Oh yeah, well he does. But Soda dropped out and the rest of the gang doesn't really understand why I want good grades so bad. They think I just do it to get Darry off my back."

"Hmm. I think it's an excellent way to get out of a bad neighborhood. With the right grades you can get into college with a full-ride."

"Yeah? Really? You think someone would give a full-ride to a no account greaser?"

Audrey laughed. "I would hardly call you a no-account greaser, Ponyboy."

Smiling along with her, he said, "You think they'll really give a full-ride to a kid with the name Ponyboy?"

They were teasing and bantering the lunch hour away until an unwelcome guest appeared.

He was tall and he had dark hair and darker eyes. Audrey recognized him at once as one of the boys that had attacked her and Pony the other day. Her cousin recognized him too and the friendly atmosphere disappeared like magic. Suddenly the lunchroom felt very cold.

"Hey greaser. Why don't you get up and let me and this nice lady have a chat, hm?"

He looked like he was going to have a smart retort, but Audrey turned to him quickly and whispered, "Go ahead, Ponyboy. I'll be all right."

He didn't want to, but Audrey got him to leave. The last thing she needed was to be the cause of her cousin getting in a fight at school.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced."

"I think we were introduced quite well when you were attacking me and my cousin."

"Attacking? We just wanted to get to know you."

"Thanks, but when I meet someone new I don't usually give them bruises like these." She rolled up her long sleeves so that the deep purple marks left there by the Socs that had grabbed her arms showed. She hadn't even shown these marks to Darrel, afraid that he would make too big a deal out of them. She rolled her sleeves back down, satisfied to see a truly contrite look on his face.

"I'm real sorry. You know, I didn't even wanna get out of that car."

"So why did you?"

"I don't know." This came out in a whisper. "I really am sorry. As long as you don't tell anyone else I am, anyway."

"I believe you. But please, next time? Just leave us alone."

He got up and left. Ponyboy sat beside her looking at her worriedly. "I'm fine. He wasn't bothering me or anything."


End file.
